Search This Blog

Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies, made popular by the Amish, are a dessert sandwich made by enclosing a vanilla frosting between to chocolate cake-like cookies. This recipe has been modified somewhat from it's original Amish version however, mainly to substitute a healthier fat for the shortening that was initially called for.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease well with butter.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Mix in eggs.In another large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing after each addition.Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Mix together the baking soda and hot water, and add to the batter, mixing well to incorporate.Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, one inch apart, onto one of the cookie sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the second cookie sheet in the same way. Once the first sheet has finished baking, place the second sheet in the oven. Remove the cookies to a rack from the first sheet, and drop more cookies onto it to be ready to go into the oven once the second sheet has finished. Proceed this way until all the batter has been used.Spread filling (below) onto the flat side of one cookie, and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.

To avoid clogging and bad odors, sink and tub drains should be periodically cleaned.

A once a month cleaning with a non-toxic, homemade cleaner prevents needing a stronger, usually sodium hydroxide (lye) based, cleaner to remove clogs. Sodium hydroxide is extremely caustic, and will damage the lungs if inhaled, burn skin and eyes, and can be fatal if swallowed. In addition, the heat generated by using sodium hydroxide can soften PVC pipes, and damage old, corroded pipes. It also changes the pH of water and can cause fish kills.

A much nicer alternative to this harsh chemical is the simple combination of baking soda and vinegar, followed with boiling water. When baking soda and vinegar are combined, they foam and expand, cleaning the sides of your pipes and dissolving fatty acids. The boiling water then washes it all away. This method is a great way to use up the box of baking soda in your frig that is not longer doing a good job of deodorizing.

Every little thing you do helps and the small things really do add up. Which is why I have a somewhat creepy tub of soap scraps in my bathroom.

I admit, it seems a little weird to save soap scraps, but it wasn't always this way. In fact, they used to have little contraptions for saving your soap scraps.

But those days are gone. Or are they?

I think frugality is making a comeback--at least, it is around here, because I save all our soap scraps. What do I do with them?

Recycled Soap Scrap Bars

If you are regular users of bar soap, a family of four can easily manage to get six additional bars of soap per year by saving soap scraps. It doesn't seem like much, so I'll write it this way instead: in ten years, that would be 60 bars of "free" soap. There, that seems more impressive.

Ingredients:
Soap scraps
Water
Herbs (optional)

1. Grate or finely chop soap scraps. Measure the amount you end up wi…